What Iraq Monitor is

Iraq Monitor tracks Iraq from primary sources: the Telegram channels of Iraq’s armed factions and their media networks — collected continuously and read with a strict attribution taxonomy — alongside Iraqi and international press, official economic data, and the questions our analysts keep standing watch on.

The desk behind this site distinguishes an official armed-group channel from a leader’s channel, an affiliated outlet from an amplifier, and a façade brand from the group assessed to operate it. Everything published here inherits those distinctions.

Our rules.Findings are built on primary sources — the actors’ own words, the state’s own documents; external reporting and research appear labeled and are never the basis of a finding. A claim is labeled a claim until independently corroborated. Attribution is quoted or it is not asserted. A statement relayed by a channel belongs to the party quoted, not the channel. Silence from a tracked actor is reported as a signal. Every published item is reviewed by a human editor first — nothing on this site is machine-published.

Iraq Monitor is independent. Corrections: when we get something wrong, the item is amended or retracted visibly, never silently.